Stamp Carving

I began carving erasers several months ago, first with an exacto knife, then a carving knife. It was fun to carve the erasers, but they're very small. I decided that I needed to carve a larger piece, so I purchased some Speedy Cut by Speedball and got to work.I set the stamp down to answer some emails. When I was finished, I realized that the stamp was hanging off the edge of the table and I broke the corner of it. Can you see the crack in top right corner? Wow, this stuff is kind of brittle, the erasers are a lot more pliable.What a Bummer! I tried to glue it, but it didn't look good. There was only one thing I could do; cut it into three smaller stamps.

Then I flipped two of the stamps over and carved the other side.

What do you think the stamp on the right represents?

An abstracted, happy wine opener (another design exercise). If you recognized it, I didn't do a very good job abstracting it!! I think it sort of looks like a woman with BIG hair. LOL

I can't wait to ink these up and see how they print. Stay tuned. . . .

Design Exercises

How often do you make time to strengthen your design skills?

Last week, after our Fibervision meeting, some of us stayed to practice some design exercises. Here are a couple of the pages from the "Shape Splitting" exercise. Basically, you chose a simple shape and cut it in as many ways as you can think of. Do this 8-10 times and evaluate your final shapes. I decided to use Sue's beautiful journal to store my design exercises.

Here's a Continuous Line, Self Portrait that I drew tonight. Do you like it?

In Santa Barbara, we have an art and cultural event called 1st Thursday. I attend many art openings, some fantastic, some not so good (IMHO). Tonight I attended one that was a lot of fun because you got to create your own art. It was held at the Perch Gallery and featured student art from the Ridley Tree Education Center. The continuous line, self portrait is one of the lessons they do with their students. You look into a mirror, and without ever looking at you paper, you draw a continuous line, self portrait. Then you color it with water soluble crayons.

Well, some people (I won't mention names) had a real hard time keeping their eyes in the mirror! Seriously, if you've never tried it, you should. It's not as easy as it sounds, but it is great fun.

And the Winner Is . . .

Angie in AZ. Congratulations, Angie, your guess of $267.00 was very close. The actual amount I spent was $274.59. Please send me your snail mail address.Here's what I bought: Cherrywood Fabric (hand-dyed, resembles suede), Tube purse pattern, MonoPoly thread, circle cutter, Stewart Gill paints (Colourise and Pearlise), Bags with paper and stitch book, African fabric (bottom left), Batiks, Creative Classics Quilting Designs book, and Rayon thread.


I spent a lot less than most of you thought. I wasn't showing restraint or being frugal. The truth is, my studio is overflowing with every type of supply imaginable. If you ever want to try a new technique, chances are, I have everything you need, including the book that explains how to do it. I simply cannot fit much more!

There is one thing that I really wanted and didn't buy - and A-1 Longarm Quilting Machine. I loved everything about it except the size and price! Seriously, there may be one in my future.

Thanks for playing along, I really enjoyed hearing from so many new people. Keep those comments coming, I love to meet new people and visit new blogs.

One Day Left to Guess

I'll announce the winner tomorrow night. So far, the guesses range from $20.00 (my husband guess - haha) all the way up to $800.00.

Mike came back from Greece with 550 photos. He's never taken photos before, so I'm really impressed with the outcome. I've chosen a few to share. Hope you enjoy them.Here's Casper. Guess he's know all over the world!This is a very cool angle to shoot these columns. It really makes them dramatic!How would you like to live in this house? If you have extra paint mixed, you can embellish your house.

This photo of the islands is very peaceful. Love it!